In the manufacture of automotive vehicles it is a customer desire to have certain types of media componentry located in the instrument panel. In recent years there has been a proliferation of various forms of media. Exemplary of such forms are the cassette tape, the compact disc, and the digital audio tape. As a result, automotive manufacturing efforts have advanced to provide the consumer with combined instrument panel located media components. The dual compact disc/cassette tape deck is one such exemplary combination. The mechanical and electrical mounting of such components in the instrument panel bears with it a unique set of problems. Such problems require a consideration of the operating sensitivity of various components in a vehicle environment, manufacturing and servicing ease, manufacturing cost, and part cost.
An approach to mounting a dual media system within a vehicle is to create a unitary assembly of all componentry and sub-componentry that can be singularly inserted into the instrument panel. Such an assembly conventionally has a sheet metal external housing or chassis. This chassis typically has three side walls, a fourth front plate which is adaptable to receive componentry control panel bezels, and a base. Typically the base is a circuit board. The media components are shrouded with sheet metal carriers, each carrier having a geometry unique to the individual media component type, and mounted within the chassis. A first component is mechanically mounted, via the carrier, to the chassis adjacent the circuit board, and then electrically connected to the circuit board. The second component is then electrically connected to the circuit board via a flex cable and mechanically mounted, via the carrier, to the chassis adjacent the first component, thereby creating a conventional dual media assembly. The assembly is then unitarily mounted within the vehicle instrument panel.
There are a number of disadvantages associated with such a dual media assembly. One such disadvantage with the conventional assembly is the cumbersome assembly process. Each component must be separately mechanically mounted to the chassis and separately electrically connected to the circuit board which makes for a time consuming assembly process. Performing the assembly within the confines of a radio chassis only magnifies this cumbersome process. Such manufacturing concerns increase the overall product cost. A further disadvantage is servicing difficulty. For example, if the component adjacent the circuit board needs servicing the component above must be removed first, thereby increasing service time and cost. A still further disadvantage is the unreusability of the chassis. Each component, in previous designs, has a sheet metal carrier specific to the particular component dimensions. The design of the chassis is therefore dependent on the dimensions of the carrier for a particular component. If a consumer wished to change a component, the new carrier for that component would require a new chassis. Another disadvantage is the way a flex cable is utilized to electrically connect the second component to the circuit board. Upon assembly the flex cable will inherently be sandwiched between the first and second components as the second component is mechanically mounted to the chassis. Over the life of the assembly the flex cable can interfere with the mechanical movement of one or both of the components and cause a system failure requiring service. Still another disadvantage is the plurality of mechanical parts necessary to support and mount the components. The conventional assembly requires a separate chassis for each component as well as mounting and aligning mechanisms for each chassis. This results in a high degree of packaging space necessary to accommodate the componentry and the associated mounting and supporting mechanisms.
It is therefore desirable, particularly when using dual media assemblies, to provide an assembly which is easily manufacturable, easily serviceable, reusable, not prone to causing system failure, and accommodating to the packaging space requirements of modern automotive vehicle designs.